Socioeconomic problems faced by women in entrepreneurial activities (The case of Elazığ)

Women inevitably take an active role in the labour force, which is one of the main components of economic development. In this context, women's participation in labour life and taking a more active role in entrepreneurship activities are of great importance not only in terms of economic terms but also in terms of improving the status of women. The increasing trend of women entrepreneurship in recent years has led to the socio-economic problems in this field being the subject of research. This research examines the socio-economic problems encountered in women's entrepreneurship through the experiences of 20 women carrying out entrepreneurial activities in Elazığ. This research was designed with phenomenological research design, one of the qualitative research methods. Phenomenological research is a research method that focuses on understanding the experiences and perspectives of the participants in depth. The universe of this study is women entrepreneurs in Turkey, and the sample group is 20 women who are engaged in entrepreneurial activities in businesses of various sizes and different sectors in Elazığ. Selecting women entrepreneurs who contributed to the study with their opinions voluntarily, age, marital status, education level, and the sector they serve were taken into consideration. In addition, a semi-structured interview form prepared by the researcher was used in the data collection process in this study. This form includes ten questions to determine the difficulties women entrepreneurs face in decision-making, business establishment and business management processes. As a result of the research, access to finance stands out as the most critical problem for women entrepreneurs in the process of establishing and growing their businesses, and the majority of the participants emphasise the need to increase grant and loan support. In addition, women entrepreneurs face serious obstacles in accessing mentöring and counselling resources and struggle with gender-based prejudices in the business world. Trust problems in establishing business contacts and difficulties in finding qualified staff limit women's business development potential. Structural supports such as childcare support, entrepreneurship training, mentöring programmes and tax incentives stand out as important elements that can help women balance their work and family lives. The fact that the Elazig entrepreneurial market is perceived to be largely male-dominated demonstrates the need to achieve gender equality. These findings emphasise the need to develop comprehensive and multidimensional support strategies to promote and sustain women's entrepreneurship. Overcoming these multidimensional barriers faced by women entrepreneurs should be considered as an important element not only for women but also for overall economic development. With this study, it was aimed to contribute to the economy by revealing the current situation in the field after the 2020 and 2023 earthquakes that occurred during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic period.